1. The Code of Hammurabi

2. King Hammurabi King of Ancient Babylonia
About 1800 B.C.E.
During his rule, Babylon became the most important city in Mesopotamia
Became the city’s greatest monarch of the empire
He was a brilliant war leader who brought all of Mesopotamia into his Babylonian Empire

3. Hammurabi’s Rule Dammed key parts of the Euphrates river
Had the power to cut off the flow of water or cause terrible floods downstream
Babylon became rich and powerful.

4. Hammurabi’s Code One of the world’s oldest “codes of law”
A written set of laws that apply to everyone under a government. Including its leaders.
Hammurabi grew tired of people changing the laws whenever they wanted
He had all laws written on clay tablets.
This way everyone knew the laws.
The Code consisted of 282 written laws

5. Hammurabi’s Code of Laws
Following are situations Hammurabi faced.
Decide what you think to be a fair way to deal with the problem.

6. Situation 1
What should be done to the carpenter who builds a house that falls and kills the owner?
Code 229
If a builder builds a house for a man and does not make its construction sound, and the house which he has built collapses and causes the death of the owner of the house, the builder shall be put to death.

7. Situation 2
What should be done when a “sister of god” (or nun) enters the wine shop for a drink?
Code 110
If a "sister of god" (nun) who is not living in a convent opens a wine shop or enters a wine shop for a drink, they shall burn that woman.

8. Situation 3 What happens if a man is unable to pay his debts? Code 117
If a man be in debt and is unable to pay his creditors, he shall sell his wife, son, or daughter, or bind them over to service. For three years they shall work in the houses of their purchaser or master; in the fourth year they shall be given their freedom.

9. Situation 4
What happens to the wine seller who fails to arrest bad characters gathered at her shop?
Code 109
If bad characters gather in the house of a wine seller and she does not arrest those characters and bring them to the palace, that wine seller shall be put to death.

10. Situation 5
What should be done about a wife who ignores her duties and belittles her husband?
Code 143
If the woman has not been careful but has gadded about, neglecting her house and belittling her husband, they shall throw that woman into the water.

11. Situation 6
What should be done if a son is adopted and then the birth-parents want him back?
Code 185
If a man takes in his own home a young boy as a son and rears him, one may not bring claim for that adopted son.

12. Situation 7 What should happen to a boy who slaps his father? Code 195
If a son strike his father, his hands shall be hewn off.

13. Situation 8
How is the truth determined when one man brings an accusation against another?
Code 2
If any one bring an accusation against a man, and the accused go to the river and leap into the river, if he sink in the river his accuser shall take possession of his house. But if the river prove that the accused is not guilty, and he escape unhurt, then he who had brought the accusation shall be put to death, while he who leaped into the river shall take possession of the house that had belonged to his accuser.